Ventrue
:"The Ventrue against the Tzimisce, and us against both" - Cosmas, on the Jyhad :"The hated Ventrue grew jealous of our power. The Patrician Clan betrayed us, and tried to destroy us. We survived, but Carthage did not."- Ecaterina the Wise, Prague, 12th Century Quite clearly, the world is in a mess, and always has been. This must be attributable as someone's fault. The answers seem obvious, and yet are never implemented. Someone is always stopping that from happening. And these someones seem to be much the same people. To Ventrue, the real world people whose fault it is, and those who follow both of them, the opposite is true. This is known as Manifest Destiny. Clearly everything is wonderful, and we are the reason why. Not only that, but the fact that everything is wonderful is the reason why we can do all those things that weak people find unpleasant. Obviously this means that they are not actually unpleasant at all; they are actually a good thing. All the things we do, which some people say are not doing anything at all that could not be replaced with a simple computer program, are not only necessary, but irreplaceable. Anyone who believes otherwise is just dreaming of an impractical utopia. Ventrue in White Wolf's fiction are not any more plausible as an evil that is necessary any more than in real life. It would be no exaggeration to say that the majority of the conflict in the tabletop and LARP games revolved around this simple fact. The Masquerade is the predominant premise for their existence and the dominance of the Camarilla. Unfortunately, as soon as you begin questioning the Masquerade, you have to question the whole of the White Wolf universe, so this never gets properly explored and the Camarilla and Ventrue get a free pass. Ventrue get a free pass in tabletop and LARPs too; they are both social games, and Ventrue have TWO social skillsets and their third is based on surviving, which as all gamers know is the only thing you HAVE to do in a game. Ventrue are, in this survival aspect, a contradiction: they are supposed to be effete inbred wastrels too weak to survive on anything but the purest and richest blood, and yet they have Fortitude. Which is it? In Multiplayer, at least, VtMR gives Ventrue nothing. Dominate is unequivocally inferior to Presence, and almost everything about the two Disciplines is a duplication. They effectively have 2.2 disciplines instead of three. In Redemption, Dominate's target is required to be of the same or lesser Generation, which would be completely unworkable if Redemption's storyline did not also allow vampires to decrease (make more powerful) their Generation. You would think that the Storyteller would have a manual option to decrease it, but no. This drawback for Dominate, and advantages for Presence including a wider range of skills, and greater values such as number of targets affected, render Dominate inferior to the similar Presence Discipline. Ventrue get the hilariously weak Viper from their use of Beckoning. Redemption makes up for the imbalance in White Wolf's other spheres, which may be why VtMR sees so little activity from the vampire community. In many ways, VtM's tabletop and LARPs are games for people who want to play at bad being good, like fictional Ayn Rands. They do not care much for it when arrogant Ventrue meddlers and disgusting Giovanni peddlers are given a well deserved thrashing by Redemption's story. Prince Brandl Prince Brandl's Castle and Prince Brandl's Receiving Chamber One of the examples of the heresies of VtMR that fly in the face of White Wolf doctrine but seem oddly compelling is Ventrue Prince Brandl gesturing to perform what seems to be Tremere-only Blood Magic on Christof to chastise him. Prince Brandl is not in the Multiplayer Creature list at all. Well, all he ever does is sit around, right? Orsi can be ritually slain as a "Dark Age Ventrue", but not his monkey suit version. Count Orsi Orsi International The Ventrue thugs outside are not typical White Wolf Ventrue, and they are voiced by Wilhem's voice actor. Inside, Revenge of the Ventrue. Ventrue with Dread Gaze send you running into Advanced War Ghouls and more Ventrue. But this might actually be the least of your worries, as they have an ability that possibly surpasses any other enemy ability in the game, with heavy aggravated damage coming from an enhanced version of Shape of the Beast Leaves of Three Prince Michaela and the Justicar Lucinde. Dominic is not actually a Ventrue, if the dialogue hints are anything to go by. Category:Clan Category:Ventrue